The Armour Archive

Kel Rekuta

maxntropy wrote:True friendship.

Earned not purchased.

Kel Rekuta

14th century Plaque belts. Good quality turnshoes. I have a couple of cast plaque belts (One is from Isabella E), but short of finding someone that will take the commission, they're like hen's teeth. A couple of places actually make something that can be called a turnshoe, but they pale to ones I p...

Kel Rekuta

Ah, must have been a smudge on my screen.

Kel Rekuta

To the OP - check the date.

Kel Rekuta

Hacky2447 wrote:That bar grill spacing looks really big.

For rebated steel thrusting, sure. But no way a rattan weapon will enter that - bar grill visors have more open space. That's one hell of good looking helmet at that price. I'll never sell my used one now...

Kel Rekuta

Footwear of the Middle Ages

http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-ca ... OEHOME.HTM

Kel Rekuta

I'm pretty sure the terms used most frequently for this style of helmet are barbuta and celata di Venezia. I prefer the latter term as it describes a regional style of sallet versus the former which can describe helmets, a class of armed men or even a group of them. Mac or Wade will correct me if th...

Kel Rekuta

Just as a point of interest, a sole bend is the hind quarter of a hide once the shoulders and bellies are removed. This is usually done prior to tanning. They are select hides specifically chosen to make sole leather. The tannage and currying of a sole bend is quite unique. While the tanned leather ...

Kel Rekuta

Craig,

Thank you for sharing the details about your tinning pot. I have been struggling to tin a buckler with less than two pounds of tin in a big wok over a propane burner. Since you see the need to make a larger pot for poleyns, I clearly need more tin to dip this project in.

Kel Rekuta

I'd like to gold plate some brass mail rings but I don't know whether the electroplate kits would create a durable finish for the expense involved.

Kel Rekuta

Thanks for the suggestions. Losthelm, laces for less doesn't seem to have spools or reels anymore, but did they look like this? http://www.shoelacesexpress.com/spoollacing.asp#flat (Decent price, but still a bit narrow.) The rice braid looks like the best option, but their site doesn't seem very co...

Kel Rekuta

Buster, I have scads of old style long sport laces up to 72", mostly brown or white or yellow. Since its old stock of bulk laces, I'd be keen to get rid of it cheaply. It is mostly in grosses and half grosses of laces. Of course it all has clear plastic aiglettes. Give me an idea of what you are int...

Kel Rekuta

Hey I did say tend! :lol: There is real buff out there on shelves if you look hard enough and have the coin. There are also a lot of simulations that don't have the right properties, specifically - how it moves in the hand, doesn't stretch much, smells like the right combination of oil packing, etc....

Kel Rekuta

Yeah, Jessica is good people. All that mystical stuff is separate from the HEMA practice, AFAIK. Talk to her.

Kel Rekuta

I still want to know where all the Civil War suppliers are getting theirs. English Civil War re-enactors get their's from Claytons. No other tannery produces true buff leather. American Civil war re-enactors tend to get some version of chrome / oil retann. Veg / oil retanns are too dark and the stu...

Kel Rekuta

I'm picking up a bit of "Hungary Tan" from Russ to try, and will contact Tod and see about getting some Buff from Clayton to see how it performs. Kel, PM Sent regarding buff, if you could respond to this thread it would probably be helpful to the rest of the archive ("what's the minimum order for a...

Kel Rekuta

True but "corazza" does. Like so much other armour terminology, it is roughly mishandled.

wcallen wrote:"Pair of Plates".

many modern people use the C word, but it doesn't appear to have any historical basis.

Wade

Kel Rekuta

I recently received some samples from a tannery I (and my colleagues) have been pestering for a decade. The process is common knowledge in the tanning industry but uses very different chemistry and handling to the commercial processes employed today. Through sheer perseverance and the convenient tim...

Kel Rekuta

Yeah, I'm with B.A. I've never seen a rivet head formed that way on a period piece. Please elaborate if you have a chance.

Kel Rekuta

That's really cool Bill.

Kel Rekuta

I used oak dowels in my chairs, sanded and waxed. I made the chairs a bit too tight.. if they get left in the rain, they won't fold till they dry some. :) (One of the hazards of red oak..stuff moves like a bastard when it absorbs moisture). That said, they are still tight, solid, and rack free five...

Kel Rekuta

BTW the problem with most plans for complex chair miss a vital detail. All the period ones have a slight pitch down front to back, much like a good modern chair. Much more comfortable. Its one of the ways to pick out a modern repro versus a period piece. Also the dowel construction in the chair pla...

Kel Rekuta

Okay I loaded the raw photos to this address: https://plus.google.com/photos/117043795884368813284/albums/5786933960566134801 I don't have time to resize them for this forum. Sorry. On further review, I have no doubt the leather is buff with substantial lacquering of dried oil over the centuries. Th...

Kel Rekuta

Looking at effigies and the pistoia altar piece in particular. In my hunt to do a kit more authentic to 1370 in Northern Italy I keep running across armour that looks like its covered in fabric. What was the point of covering your armour in fabric? How long did this fashion last? Was it just in Ita...

Kel Rekuta

Does anyone know what this type of chair is called? (I have tried searching for X Chair, etc) And Are there any plans available online? Common term for this class of seating is "fauldstool." Another common, although inaccurate term is "Savonarola chair" but it is more properly described by "curule"...

Kel Rekuta

Kel, I think we have evidence of using leather or fabric over both is that your question? RPM No Randal. My question is related to a foundation/interface between the covering material and the plates. Most brigs have a tough fustian or canvas interface. This one never did. I found that odd but I hav...

Kel Rekuta

I can hit plenty hard with my feet wherever they may be, but if I need to bring everything, I plant and drive. I call it hitting with the planet. And instead of letting gravity drop my body mass into the target,I'm accelerating my body mass into the target with the drive from both legs. That is a p...

Kel Rekuta

Hmm. Mac, your comment about the neck line is spot on. There were a couple things I found very odd about it but then I'm relatively new to studying artifacts instead of photos of armour. There is no fabric interface between the leather and metal. The leather is probably 3mm thick or more. A bit spon...

Kel Rekuta

I had a really good look at it as a conservator was putting it back in the case. I also got a few close-ups from various angles as the light was good in that gallery that afternoon. What specifically do you want to know?

Kel Rekuta

Thanks Mac! That explains something about how hundskul visors hang the way they should. The Vienna bascinets and the one (I think) in the Marzoli have puzzled me for years. These may seem like trifling points, but it is important to train the eye to see the difference. They are all part of what make...

Kel Rekuta

I hate to say it but looking at that curve and the yellow accent piece on the top... those are going to be a tough break in. Shoe stretch is alcohol and water. Skip the alcohol and just use warm water. And the next time they get wet and are left to dry without internal support, they will revert to ...

Kel Rekuta

There is a spray called "shoe stretch" that works pretty well. Wear them while wet. It does have alcohol in it. Shoe stretch is basically isopropyl alcohol diluted with water; somewhere between 25-40% ABV. It also has a minute amount of detergent to improve saturation. You can make it yourself by c...

Kel Rekuta

Hello everyone! I am intending to make some lasts for forming leather vambraces, rebraces, greaves, and possibly cuisses. I was wondering what people would recommend for making lasts. In particular... What would be the best materials and construction method? 1 Lightweight, moderately hard and water...

Kel Rekuta

There was a time when those things weren't the ugliest helmets on the field. I put "pass" stickers on more than a few of the bar grill abominations as long as they fit properly and had a chin strap. And shuddered a little inside each time.

Kel Rekuta

Sigurd of Jorvik wrote:Has anyone read the bio of Hawkwood by William Caferro?

Yes, its well written.

Re: What can you just not buy?

Re: What can you just not buy?

Re: October 25th 1415- On this St. Crispian's Day

Re: October 25th 1425- On this St. Crispian's Day

Re: In stock: Bascinet with aventail+Padded Coif+Bargrill.

Re: Medieval footwear?

Re: Barbuta question

Re: Uses for sole bend leather?

Re: Tinned Spring Steel mid-14th Century Poleyns / Knee Cops

Re: anyone tried gold plating armour ?

Re: Sources for Japanese armour lacing

Re: Sources for Japanese armour lacing

Re: Buff Leather Source?

Re: Longsword classes in NoVa NOT in Springfield?

Re: Buff Leather Source?

Re: Buff Leather Source?

Re: That C word

Re: Buff Leather Source?

Re: Coat of plates I haven't seen before .. help IDing?

Re: My new harness, under construction

Re: Chair Plans?

Re: Chair Plans?

Re: Coat of plates I haven't seen before .. help IDing?

Re: Fabric covered armour (third quarter 14th century)

Re: Chair Plans?

Re: Coat of plates I haven't seen before .. help IDing?

Re: Step-strike or strike-step?

Re: Coat of plates I haven't seen before .. help IDing?

Re: Coat of plates I haven't seen before .. help IDing?

Re: Italian helmets circa. 1370

Re: Leatherworkers I have a question..

Re: Leatherworkers I have a question..

Re: Last construction for leather forming...

Re: Helmets on Ebay - Stolen?

Re: Sir John Hawkwood Book